I was born in Minnesota, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. I got a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Montana, followed by graduate studies at Oregon State University and several other universities.

 

After graduating from college I came to the Northwest to work with the USDA Forest Service on fire crews, then timber sale crews. I worked on six National Forests in the Northwest with my last four years of service managing 350,000 acres of the Umatilla National Forest. I lived in Detroit and Stayton while working on the Willamette National Forest. I left the Forest Service in 1985 and worked as a forestry consultant, map publisher, and for a short time, land use planner for Salem. In 1996, I started work with Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

 

At ODOT, I was a major projects environmental manager for ten years with responsibility for getting many of the state's largest projects through the planning and environmental impact assessment phases. These projects included the I-5/217/Kruseway Interchange, I-5 Columbia River Bridge Repair, Sunnyside/Sunnybrook Interchange, Sunrise Corridor, Newberg-Dundee Bypass, I-5 widening in Salem, and the Salem River Crossing project. I left ODOT to go back into consulting soon after initiating the Salem River Crossing project in 2006.  

 

In 2012, I came back to the State of Oregon as a software project manager for the Oregon Department of Forestry, retiring in 2016. In 2018, ODF requested my services again for a year to manage their accounting software replacement.  

 

I have served my community in leadership positions on numerous local organizations including Salem Audubon Society, South Central Association of Neighbors, Salem Parks and Recreation Advisory Council and Salem Chapter of the Society of American Foresters. I have led and helped complete five trails in Salem: the West Salem Audubon Preserve, Fairmount Park, Skyline Park/Sprague, Fairview, and the Croisan Scenic Way trails. I have also worked on the Catamount Trail in Silver Falls State Park. I have planted over 1,000 trees in Salem. I have published a dozen different recreation maps and authored Mountain Biking Oregon, the first book on mountain biking in the state.  I currently volunteer as vice president of the Northwest Land Conservation Trust. The Trust holds several conservation easements on properties around Salem and we are working with other landowners in the area to protect their lands. I have lived in Marion County for about 40 years. 

 

Marion County should be a leader in community sustainability, equity, economic prosperity, reproductive health care and happiness. I can help us achieve these outcomes by serving as your Marion County Commissioner.